1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to drum washing machines and, more particularly, to a drum washing machine which is constructed to reinforce a strength of a top plate mounted to an upper portion of a cabinet, and to allow electric wires to be easily arranged and held in the cabinet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, drum washing machines wash laundry by rotating a rotary tub and thereby causing laundry and wash water to contact each other while tumbling from a top of the rotary tub to a bottom of the rotary tub. The drum washing machine includes a cabinet which is open at an upper portion thereof. A top plate is mounted to the upper portion of the cabinet to close the open upper portion of the cabinet.
A water tub is set in the cabinet to contain the wash water therein. The rotary tub is rotatably set in the water tub. The rotary tub is perforated on a sidewall thereof to have a plurality of perforations allowing the wash water, fed from the water tub, to move into the rotary tub.
A front opening is formed on a predetermined portion of a front wall of the cabinet so that a user puts the laundry into the rotary tub through the front opening. A door is mounted to the front wall of the cabinet to horizontally rotate and to open or close the front opening. A plurality of water supply valves are provided at predetermined positions above the water tub, which is set in the cabinet, to supply the wash water into the water tub. A water level sensor is provided at a predetermined position in the cabinet to detect a level of the wash water contained in the water tub.
Further, a control panel having a plurality of buttons is provided on the front wall of the cabinet above the front opening. The buttons allow a user to control operations of the drum washing machine. The water supply valves and the water level sensor are connected to the control panel via a plurality of electric wires to transceive electric signals with the control panel, so that a proper amount of wash water is fed into the water tub according to an operational mode, such as a washing-mode, a rinsing-mode, and a spin drying mode. The cooperation of the water supply valves, the water level sensor, the control panel, and the electric connections therebetween also maintain a proper level of water in the water tub.
The conventional drum washing machine constructed as described above is operated as follows. First, the laundry is put into the rotary tub, and the buttons of the control panel are manipulated. At this time, the water supply valves of a water supply unit are open to feed the wash water into the water tub. When the rotary tub rotates in such a state, the laundry placed on the bottom of the rotary tub moves upward and falls to the bottom of the rotary tub due to gravity. In this case, the level of the wash water contained in the water tub is detected by the water level sensor, and a signal indicative of the wash water level is output from the water level sensor to the control panel to maintain a predetermined water level.
The door of the drum washing machine is mounted to the predetermined portion of the front wall of the cabinet. This is in contrast to a general type of washing machine in which a door thereof is mounted to a top of a cabinet. As a result, in the case of the drum washing machine, a household appliance, such as a laundry drying machine, may be placed on a top wall of the cabinet. In this case, the top plate mounted to the upper portion of the cabinet may be deformed or broken, due to a weight of the household appliance placed on the top plate and the fact that the conventional drum washing machine has no structure to reinforce strength of the top plate.
The conventional drum washing machine has another problem in that the electric wires may be damaged, or a short circuit may occur by the vibration of the water tub during the rotation of the rotary tub, and the electric wires which connect the water supply valves and the water level sensor to the control panel, come into contact with the water tub.
Therefore, a plurality of wire holders are provided on predetermined positions of an inner surface of the cabinet. Further, a cable tie to secure the electric wires is provided on each of the wire holders.
The conventional drum washing machine has a further problem in that a long time is required to install the wire holders and the cable ties on the inner surface of the cabinet and securing the electric wires becomes difficult, because the plurality of wire holders and cable ties must be installed on several positions of the inner surface of the cabinet to secure the electric wires.